How God Is to Be Worshiped

The Principle

God decides how he is to be worshiped. We do not. In worship we may do what he has commanded in Scripture, and nothing else. The Reformed churches call this the regulative principle of worship.

But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture.

Westminster Confession of Faith 21.1

Most churches work by a different rule. They hold that whatever Scripture does not forbid may be used in worship. The Reformed rule is narrower. Whatever Scripture does not command is left out. The question is never whether something is forbidden. It is whether God asked for it.

Where Scripture Teaches It

1. The second commandment. God forbids worshiping him by images or by any means of our own making (Exodus 20:4-6). The Larger Catechism says it forbids all devising, counselling, commanding, using, and any wise approving any religious worship not instituted by God himself (Q&A 109).
2. Nadab and Abihu. Two priests offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not, and fire from the Lord devoured them (Leviticus 10:1-2). The text does not say what rule they broke. It says they offered what he commanded them not, that is, what he had not commanded.
3. Add nothing, take nothing away. God told Israel to observe what he commanded, and not to add thereto, nor diminish from it (Deuteronomy 12:32).
4. Worship that God never asked for. Through Jeremiah God condemned worship which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart (Jeremiah 7:31).
5. Jesus on the traditions of men. In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Matthew 15:9).
6. Paul on will-worship. He warned against worship men devise for themselves, however humble or devout it looks (Colossians 2:20-23).

What God Has Commanded

The Confession lists the parts of ordinary worship, which are called its elements (WCF 21.3-5).

1. Prayer, with thanksgiving, in the name of Christ.
2. The reading of Scripture with godly fear.
3. Preaching of the Word, and hearing it with understanding, faith, and reverence.
4. Singing of psalms with grace in the heart.
5. The sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, rightly given and worthily received.

On special occasions the Confession adds religious oaths, vows, solemn fastings, and thanksgivings. Giving to the Lord and the benediction belong to the service as well (1 Corinthians 16:1-2, Numbers 6:24-26, 2 Corinthians 13:14).

Elements and Circumstances

The principle does not mean Scripture must tell you what time to meet, how long the sermon runs, or whether to sit in pews. Those are circumstances, things common to any gathering of people. The Confession says they are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word (WCF 1.6).

The test is simple. An element is a thing done as worship, and it needs a command. A circumstance is only how and when the commanded thing is done, and it needs good sense and good order (1 Corinthians 14:40).

What It Means in Practice

1. No images of God. No pictures, statues, or films of the Father, the Son, or the Spirit, in worship or out of it (WLC 109).
2. No holy days of men’s making. God appointed the Lord’s Day. The Westminster Directory for Public Worship says no other day is commanded to be kept holy.
3. No entertainment in place of worship. No drama, dance, light shows, or performances. Worship is not a show for the congregation. It is the congregation meeting God.
4. The Word at the center. Reading and preaching are not a short segment between songs. They are the heart of the service.
5. Psalms, sung without instruments. The Reformed Presbyterian churches sing only the Psalms in worship, without instruments. God gave his church a book of praise, the Psalms, and commanded it to be sung (Colossians 3:16, James 5:13). The instruments of the Old Testament were appointed for the temple and its sacrifices (2 Chronicles 29:25-28), and they passed away with them when Christ fulfilled them. The New Testament church is told to sing, making melody in your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19).

That last point is where Presbyterians who hold the same principle part ways. Many sing hymns and use instruments, and they are brothers. This site holds what the Reformed Presbyterian churches hold, and it holds it as a conviction from Scripture, not as a matter of taste.

Why It Matters

1. It honors God. He is the one being worshiped. He has the right to say how.
2. It frees your conscience. God alone is Lord of the conscience (WCF 20.2). No pastor or church can bind you to worship God in a way he never asked for.
3. It keeps the church from drifting. Once worship is open to anything not forbidden, there is no line, and each generation adds what the last one would not have dreamed of.
4. It keeps Christ central. The things God commanded, the Word, the sacraments, and prayer, are the means by which Christ gives his grace (WSC 88). Men’s additions crowd them out.

Common Objections

1. It is legalistic. Legalism tries to earn God’s favor by works. This asks how a forgiven people should come to the God who already accepted them in Christ. Obeying his instructions for worship is not earning anything. It is love (John 14:15).
2. The New Testament does not give a worship manual. It gives enough. It shows the apostolic church reading, preaching, praying, singing, giving, and keeping the sacraments (Acts 2:42, 1 Corinthians 11, 14, 16:1-2, 1 Timothy 4:13). Those are what Reformed worship does.
3. God looks at the heart. He does, and he also told us what to do. Nadab and Abihu were priests offering incense to the true God. Sincerity does not make strange fire acceptable.

What to Do

1. Read WCF 21 with your Bible open. Check every proof text.
2. Look at your church’s worship. For each part of the service, ask where God commanded it. Raise honest questions with your elders, kindly.
3. Learn the Psalms. Sing them at home, in family worship, until you know many of them by heart.
4. Come prepared on the Lord’s Day. See How to Keep the Lord’s Day.